Kenneth Gainwell, a dynamic playmaker in the 2021 NFL Draft
During his tenure with the Memphis Tigers, Mike Norvell — now with Florida State — was able to create one of the more explosive offenses in college football and help turnaround a program. Norvell left Memphis with the best winning percentage in the school’s history with a win percentage of 0.717. Not only was he able to create success on the field, but he was able to bring in talent and help put kids on the path to the NFL, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Over the last two drafts, the Tigers have had a running back selected in the top-100. In 2019 the Los Angeles Rams took Darrell Henderson with the 70th overall pick and this last year’s draft, the Washington Football Team selected Antonio Gibson with the 66th overall pick. Both backs have both the talent and opportunity within their team to claim a significant role in this season and beyond as well.
As you can see, each year (albeit a small sample size) the running back selected out of Memphis was drafted higher than the year before, and from what we have seen from Kenneth Gainwell during his short collegiate career is that he has the tools be picked higher than those before him. While there is still a ton of time between now and the draft, Gainwell has put plenty on his tape to prove to teams that he is worthy of a round-two selection.
The Production
As a runner, Gainwell was very impressive for a redshirt freshman; he tallied 1,459 yards on the ground on 231 carries for an average of 6.3 yards-per-carry. He added 13 rushing touchdowns to round out his running totals. As a receiver is where he really shined. He brought in 51 receptions for 610 yards — 12.0 yards per reception — and added another 3 touchdowns bringing his total to 16, more than a touchdown a game.
Where Kenneth Gainwell Wins
As stated in the prior slide, Gainwell is one heck-of-a-receiver. Not only is he dangerous out of the backfield, but he has the ability to run routes from the slot and be extremely effective. Despite being a running back, Gainwell puts some really nice routes together; he sets up defenders with pacing and does a good job of getting his hips down at his break-point.
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His ball skills for a running back are just uncanny, he can track a deep ball better than some receivers. When you watch most backs catch the ball out of the backfield they have a tendency to secure the ball with their body, but this isn’t the case for Gainwell, he goes outside of his frame to make the catch. Very few drops on his tape.
As a runner, he is quick to diagnose when the play is broken; he is able to dodge the defender in the backfield and still gain positive yards. Gainwell is extremely strong through contact, running with a low pad level, he is able to make the first tackler miss more often than not.
In spite of not being the most elusive back, he is still able to shake and make defenders miss. He does an excellent job of using angles against tacklers in the open field and has a pretty nifty spin move to elude tackles. He has a natural feel for an opponent’s leverage and how to use that against them to shed the tackle.
As a blocker, he isn’t the most technically sound, but he uses his size to get under opponents pads and finds success more often than not. His hands, for the most part, do a nice job of staying inside on the defenders chest plate.
Where He Can Improve
Only a redshirt freshman there were times where his inexperience would pop on his tape. There were way too many times on his tape where he would pass up wide-open gaps between the tackles trying to find sideline. Gainwell has got to get out of that one-track mind and be able to identify the open lane.
Patience is going to be the biggest key to his success on the ground at the next level; he likes to get out in front of his blockers finding himself ahead of the play and not getting as many yards as he probably should. There are times where it’s okay to get vertical or outside immediately, but not every play.
Since Gainwell is such a prolific threat as a receiver he wasn’t asked to protect to the quarterback very often and when he was, it didn’t end very well for the quarterback. He struggled to find the pressure in time often leading to sacks or hurried throws.
Quick Synopsis
Whether or not Gainwell is able to fix his vision issues there is no doubt that he will find a role at the next level, the question is just how big can that role be. If he is able to develop more as runner and learn to run with patience and let his blocks develop, there is a ton of upside there, because of his burst and contact balance.
From day one there should be no problems with him providing some type of threat as a receiver. Gainwell is a high floor, high ceiling prospect, no matter what you’re getting an effective pass-catcher/offensive-weapon, but you could end up with a bell-cow back.